Real Life Fairytale
by normallyweirdm
Summary: Darco. Ellie tells of the Fairytale she has witnessed.
1. Prologue

**Title: A Real Life Fairytale**

**Pairing: Darco; mixed with strong Marco/Ellie Friendship **

**Summary: Ellie tells about the fairytale she witnesses between her best friend and his boyfriend. Darco. **

**Prologue **

**Please read and review. **

* * *

When I was little, I used to believe that my life would turn out just like a fairytale. Yes, even I Ellie Nash, believed in fairytales. And now, after admitting that embarrassing information, you're probably expecting me to say that I stop believing in fairytales, right? Well, you're almost right. See, I stopped believing in them for a while, until I saw one unfold before my eyes.

When I turned thirteen, the whole "love at first sight," and "happily ever after," thing seemed so fake; that wasn't real life. I realized my dream of meeting a guy at sixteen, falling in love, having him be "the one," getting married, and living happily ever after was not realistic.

In real life, people fight, they break up, they cheat, they lie, and they certainly don't just live happily ever after. So I gave up on fairytales all together. What I didn't realize was that I would witness one.

I don't know how I became one of the lucky people to see it, especially from the very beginning. I also don't know how these two people became so lucky to live a fairytale. Now don't get me wrong, it isn't a perfect fairytale like your thinking. There is fighting, lies, break ups, make ups, all the stuff comes with life. I like to call it a "real life fairytale," because it's not peachy all the time, but it has the main element to a fairytale: the deep, undying love. The love that gets them past all the fights and mistakes to give them a chance at a happily ever, or as close as you can get to it in real life.

They really are caught up in an intense love, I mean; it's almost a miracle how deep their love for each other is. I think maybe that's why God made it so easy for their paths to cross, because you have to allow yourself to look for the miracle of their love.

See, most people see them together and they don't accept. They don't allow themselves to see the miracle, or the fairytale these two people share.

Did I forget to mention that these two people are gay?

Well, they are and maybe some of you are dismissing this love right away, but if you give yourself a chance to look past the fact that it's two guys, you would probably see the deepest love put on this earth. I would know, because I've watched it grow, and strengthen over the years.

Fairytales were meant to be told, and that's my purpose today. To tell you of two boys who fell deeply in love, and have a chance of living happily ever after. Who knows, maybe I'll change a few minds from homophobic to being able to see this fairytale. But, the again, maybe that's just one girl's idea to a fairytale life.

I'll start from the beginning.

Oh, but first, I should probably tell you how I know, well, the fairytale's main characters, Marco and Dylan.

Marco is my best friend. He has been since grade nine, a year before my story starts. He's sweet, caring, adorable, smart, funny, and I have secretly nicknamed him "Mr. Right." He came out to me at the end of grade nine, when I had a huge crush on him, and I agreed to pretend to be his "girlfriend." He was so shy and unsure of himself back then. As he grew older, he became more confident and more comfortable with who he is, partly because of Dylan's influence on him.

Dylan, I met him through Marco at the beginning of grade ten. He's more the "Prince Charming" type, you know handsome, funny, brave, charming, and totally confident. He has always seemed to know who he is, and is completely ok with it.

Ok, so back to the beginning of grade ten, when they first met.

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Please review if you read, thanks :)**


	2. In the Beginning First Encounters

**Title: A Real Life Fairytale**

**Pairing: Darco; mixed with strong Marco/Ellie Friendship **

**Summary: Ellie tells about the fairytale she witnesses between her best friend and his boyfriend. Darco. **

**Chapter One: "In the Beginning: First Encounters"**

**Please read and review. **

* * *

Marco had convinced me to come spend the day at the beach with him, Paige and her evil posse. I don't know how he roped me into, and as we got closer to the blue van I started to really regret my decision to go.

"I don't know why you hate Paige," Marco told me. Yeah with her catty remarks and her "I rule all" air, what isn't there to love about her?

"Cause she's pure evil?" I reply.

"She's very sweet, actually. And don't worry about today, okay? You're my guest." Somehow I didn't think that would save me from Paige.

We finally reached the van, and it looked like we were the last to arrive. The only person I didn't recognize was the guy in the front seat. He sort of resembled Paige, with the light hair and light eyes, only his hair was more of a mess of dirty blonde curls. I remembered Ashley saying that Paige has an older brother, so I assumed that was him. Paige opened the van door and got out.

"Ellie, Hun, I thought vampires couldn't go out in the sun." I shot Marco an "I told you so" look as I got into the van.

"I guess that leaves shotgun for DelStudly. Unless he wants to sit back here with his honey." Uh, Spinner called me Marco's honey, which reminded me that I'm not really Marco's girlfriend.

"No, that's cool. Uh, shotgun for me."

"Oh, uh, Marco, meet my brother, Dylan, our chauffeur for the day." And that's when it happened, when they shared their first look. Sparks flew, and they connected. I wouldn't call it "love at first sight," because love doesn't happen that way. It grows and develops as you get to know some one. It was more of a look shared between two people who knew that one day they would be in love with the other.

And that's when I knew that I couldn't pretend to be Marco's girlfriend anymore. I had already decided that, but I didn't plan on it happening right then on that day, but that look haunted me the entire ride. Marco was never going to be completely happy with me as his pretend girlfriend. He wasn't going to be happy until he started to come out to people. I knew he was just too scared to; too scared of people's reactions, and people turning on him. But as I watched him and Dylan sneak glances at each other the entire ride, I knew it was time for some tough love to push Marco out of his closet.

* * *

By the time we got to the beach my mood had turned a little sour. I was with people I didn't like, and who weren't too crazy about me either. And to top it all off, they thought that Marco and I were some great couple, which actually still kind of hurt, because it had only been a year earlier that I had a major crush on him. And pretending to be his girlfriend didn't really help make the crush go away. Instead I was reminded of how perfect he is.

I had to make Marco stop hiding behind me, which I knew would terrify and completely freak him out. I had been willing to pretend to be his girlfriend until he was ready to tell people. I knew he had gone through a confusing time when he first figured it out, and he hadn't been ready to tell people yet. He had to first accept the fact that he was gay himself. But after he had come to accept it, and had grown a little more sure of himself, I knew he was ready, just scared. And I was sick of lying for him. We were both stuck in a place where we were not really happy. I love Marco, and I know he loves me, but only as good friends do. I wanted to date, and I knew he did, too.

However, I could never blame Marco for wanting to use me as a security blanket. We have both the issue of hiding behind each other. Our friendship is solid and sort of a safe haven for each of us. We both understand each, and know most of the other's secrets, so there's nothing to be scared of. And when you're faced with the decision of safe or scary, you tend to choose safe.

When either of us chooses safe, the other will take the role of security blanket, until they feel it's time for the other to face their fears. Marco and I both know when it's time to show each other tough love.

Later that year, Marco showed me tough love when I started to date Sean, but used Marco as an excuse to break up wit him rather then trust Sean in our new relationship. It's what we do for each other.

Anyway, I wanted Marco to start to come out and to have a shot with Dylan, so I had to send him out on his own.

"Okay, so maybe it was a mistake inviting you today," he told me as we walked to the beach.

"Well I couldn't let my "honey" come here all by himself," he looked at me like "what are you talking about?"

"Earlier. Spinner called me your honey and you didn't correct him."

"I didn't think it was that big a deal"

"Last year, fine. But I'm not lying anymore. I'm not your girlfriend." There I told him, no more hiding behind me.

"Okay, fine then. No more lies, okay? We're just friends from now on."

Hazel interrupted us by asking if we wanted to play volleyball.

"I am," Marco agreed, and then he turned to me.

"You play, I'll read."

* * *

The day started to pass easily. I read while Dylan, Paige, and Hazel kicked Marco's, Jimmy's, and Spinner's butt in volleyball. It was pretty funny actually; I had looked up just in time to see Spinner get hit in the head with the ball. After their humiliating defeat, the boys decided to have a water gun fun, while Paige, Dylan, and Hazel sat talking. I kept reading until my thoughts were interrupted when two male joggers went by. No, I wasn't distracting by them exactly, but by Paige and Dylan who started to call comments out to them. It amazed me; Dylan was so confident. He didn't care who knew he was gay, he didn't even care if those two guys were gay or not. He was perfectly happy with who he was, and was able to show the world. He would be a perfect complement to my shy and awkward friend. Maybe he could even help Marco to become more confident?

A little while later, we decided to eat. I started to play my guitar while everyone talked. Then Marco stopped his conversation with Dylan and sat next to me on the bench.

"So, uh, whatcha playing?" he asked me. I smiled and shrugged.

"I don't know. Nothing. Just strumming." Then things took a turn for the worse when Marco put his arm around me. What was he doing, did he not listen to me earlier?

"Marco?"

"Uh, Hun, it's okay. He's your boyfriend," Paige said, looking at me like I was an idiot. Marco seemed frozen, so I took things into my own hands.

"He is not my boyfriend, actually. We, we broke up. Didn't we Marco?" I replied, looking right at him. At this point all eyes were on us, and Marco couldn't seem to form an answer; he just looked embarrassed, scared, and a little betrayed.

Then he just got up and walked away without saying a word. I just watched him leave, not knowing whether to go after him, or stay where I was.

I felt pretty bad; my plan wasn't to upset Marco. I sighed; I could feel Paige staring at me, blaming me for hurting Marco, and probably making comments to Hazel behind my back. I just continued to strum my guitar, and tried to block it out, hoping Marco would come back soon so we could go home. When he didn't come back in the next ten minutes, I felt even worse. Paige and everyone else didn't seem to notice, they had gone back to eating. Well, everyone except for Dylan, who was throwing worried glances in the direction Marco had walked off in. I was about to get up and go see if I could find Marco, but Dylan beat me to it. He got up, told Paige he would be right back, and started walking. When walking didn't seem fast enough, he fell into a soft jog. I was glad he cared, but I silently cursed him for leaving me with Paige.

I finally spotted them walking back about half an hour later. Marco seemed extremely quiet as he watched his feet walk back toward his friends. Dylan, I could tell, wanted to say something, but settled on throwing concerned glances Marco's way. Then finally, with a soft smile on his face, he turned to Marco and pointed somewhere out on the beach. He started to explain whatever he was pointing at, but I couldn't hear them because they were still out of ear shot.

His smile doubled when Marco gave him a weak smile followed by a small laugh. He answered Dylan back with his own comment, which the made the older boy chuckle. Dylan seemed happy that his plan to cheer Marco up had worked. I was just glad Dylan cared enough to try.

When they reached us, Marco went back to being quiet; I could tell he was a little embarrassed. We all stood there not knowing what to say, so once again Dylan saved the day.

"It's getting kind of late, you guys, should we head home?"

"Yeah," Paige agreed. "We'll start packing the van."

Marco didn't say anything for the rest of the day.

* * *

I didn't talk to Marco the next day at school, I'm petty sure he was avoiding me. I decided I would go talk to him after school, until I heard he had other plans… with Hazel.

I had over heard Spinner confirming plans with Paige and Hazel for that night. Hazel seemed to really like the idea; I knew she had had a crush on Marco the year before. We both had liked him at the same time, and I had thought Marco liked her better then me.

I couldn't believe he wanted to get stuck in another lie. He wouldn't be able to ask Hazel to lie for him; instead he would have to lie to her. Didn't he see the hole he was digging himself into? I didn't get it; this was the perfect time to start telling people he was gay. It was not the time to start dating a girl. I had to make him see that he was making the wrong choice.

I walked into the Dot later that day, just as Marco was going to get more drinks. We locked eyes, and somehow we had a whole conversation by just making eye contact.

I made my point clear that he was making the wrong move, that it was time to stop being scared and to take the plunge. I told him that he shouldn't be with Hazel on date, and how wrong and pathetic I thought it was. I told him how stupid he was being, that he was better then the lies, and braver then his fear.

In return he told me that he knew I was right, that he didn't want to be there. He didn't want to lie, he didn't want to date Hazel, and he didn't want to be stuck. He knew I was right, but he was scared and he didn't know what to do.

Hazel interrupted our conversation by coming over to help Marco with the drinks. She placed her hand on his arm to tell me that he was hers now. As they walked back to the table, I rolled my eyes; my last message being: absolutely pathetic.

Marco seemed to get my message loud and clear, because he made a quick excuse and a fast exit. Spinner followed Marco out.

I know right now I may seem to be a lousy friend, by pushing Marco too hard when he may not have been ready, but it was the tough love. I knew he would never be completely ready, who is, but he was as ready as he would ever be. He just needed a push in the right direction. A good friend would be supportive, and give someone all the time in the world, but a best friend would give someone a push when they need it, even if it is a little harsh at the time.

When Spinner came back he seemed a little freaked over something, but he just said Marco had to go home and continued eating.

* * *

When I got back to my house, Marco was there waiting for me. He was sitting on my steps with his head in his hands. He looked up when he heard me approaching.

"Ellie," he said.

He looked like he had been crying; his eyes were full and wide, and he could barely even smile when I came up to him.

"Marco, are you okay?" I asked, all concerned to see my best friend upset.

He looked up at me for a few seconds, trying to find his voice. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, he cleared his throat and looked back to the ground with fresh tears forming in his eyes.

I quickly sat down next to him on the steps, trying to give him any comfort I could with my presence alone. He sighed, and then turned to me with his big brown eyes glistening with worry.

"I, uh, told Spinner," he said quietly.

I couldn't speak, so I just there sat dumbfounded.

"Right after I left the Dot, Spinner followed me out and we got into a fight over why I was leaving my date with Hazel. And, I just... I just blurted it. I told him I was gay." He shrugged, and wiped the fresh tears falling down his cheeks.

"He didn't say anything, but he didn't look too happy when he stormed off. I just really don't want to face him tomorrow, because I don't know how he's going to react. But I don't think he's going to be accepting," he paused, but then continued at high speed.

"And it's not fair El, Spinner and I just became really good friends. I don't want to lose his friendship just because I'm gay, I don't even want to be gay, Ellie, and now I have to lose my friends over it. It' not fair."

I started to feel guilty for pushing Marco so hard. Maybe he really wasn't ready. But I pushed him, so he did it, and afterward I didn't know how to make him feel better.

"Maybe he will accept it, he might just need some time to think things over. It's a lot to take in," I told him trying to find the hope in this conversation.

He just shook his head.

"El, I could already see it in his eyes, he was disgusted with the idea. I mean, he called me Marcie last year and he didn't even know I was gay. He's not going to accept it, and I'm afraid to see how he's going to react now that he knows I really am. I don't even know if he's told anyone."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, until Marco turned to me again.

"Ellie," he said. I looked up when I heard the seriousness in his voice.

"I'm sorry for hurting you, for asking you to pretend to be my girlfriend, for making you lie, for being gay, for well, everything," he said, talking faster with each word he spoke.

It all came out in a blur, and he was crying freely by the time he was finished. All I could do was pull him into a hug, tell him that it wasn't his fault, and it would all be ok.

* * *

"I'm sure he didn't tell anyone. Why would he?" I asked Marco as we walked down the hall the next day at school.

Marco had talked to Spinner before school started, but Spinner didn't give any hint to whether he told anyone or not. And to say the least, Marco was freaking out.

"To make my life a living hell..." he answered bitterly.

We continued to walk down the hall toward Craig and Jimmy who where in the middle of a conversation.

"Alright, Spin asked us to keep it a secret until he's thought about it more, so you can't tell anybody, alright?" Marco and I both over heard Craig tell jimmy.

We glanced nervously to each other, hoping the secret wasn't what we thought.

"Keep what a secret?" I interrupted.

"Yeah… what's the big news?" Marco asked nervously.

"Uh… okay," jimmy started. "Paige is turning 16 in a few weeks, and Spin is planning a surprise party."

I could see the weight lifting off of Marco's shoulders with each passing word.

"Yeah, meaning you two can tell no one," Craig continued.

Marco feeling very relieved, pulled them into a hug.

"Guys, I'll carry the secret to my grave, okay?" he said happily.

"See you in homeroom, huh?" he walked away joyfully, right into some poor unknowing girl. I gave Jimmy and Craig my best confused look topped with a shrug, while I was trying not to laugh.

I caught up to Marco on his way to his locker.

"See, he didn't tell anyone," I said happily.

"Yeah I guess not. Uh, I feel so relieved," he said smiling.

I felt better after that, figuring that the day would go ok for Marco, but I realized, later on, that I was wrong when I over heard Craig telling Paige of the events in gym class.

"Craig, have you seen Spinner," Paige asked Craig as he passed her in the hall.

"He's probably still talking to Mr. Armstrong. He got into trouble during gym."

"What did my idiotic boyfriend do this time?"

"He kept spiking Marco with the volleyball, I don't know what his problem with Marco is, but there must be something."

I knew what that something was. I couldn't believe the way he was treating Marco just because he was gay. Some friend he was.

"Hey," I called, catching up to Marco a few minutes later. "I heard about gym class. You're not gonna take that, are you?"

"What am I supposed to do El?"

"I dunno… get Dylan to use Spinner as a hockey puck tonight?" I joked.

"Yeah. I'm not going."

"Dylan invited you," I reminded him. "You have to."

"Why?"

"Marco, come on. I'm not blind. Go to the game." I knew he had a crush on Dylan; I had been there at the beach, so there was no denying it.

"You better be coming Del Rossi. Pizza at the Dot first, then a night of our national sport," Jimmy interrupted. He had obviously overheard our conversation.

"But Spin…"

"Spin's an idiot," he said forcibly, "Okay so come." He implied that he knew why Spinner was acting the way he was, but that he was completely fine with it.

"Fine. But I'll meet you at the arena okay, 'cuz pizza and Spin…"

"Always a bad combo," Jimmy finished with a laugh.

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll see you there," Jimmy concluded as he left.

I smiled and gave Marco a pat on the shoulder as I walked away. I was glad that at least one of his friends was being supportive.

* * *

"So you're walking through the gay village alone, at night, and you get 'swarmed for your shoes'?" I asked Marco the next day, trying to believe his story.

Marco had a bad night on his way to the game. According to him, he missed his bus, arrived late, and on his way to the arena he got beat up over his shoes. I somehow I had trouble believing this story. I was pretty sure he was bashed over being gay, and that it had nothing to do over shoes. He was pretty shaken up form the incident, though.

"That's what happened. Look, you don't believe me El? Whatever"

"I don't. You should talk to the police."

"I did, last night!"

"And your parents?"

"What don't you get, El? With Spin and after last night I am not telling anybody anything ever again!" he said trying to escape the conversation.

"So, what? You're just gunna pretend…"

"No, I'm just…I'm just not gunna be anything, okay? Gay or straight."

At that moment, I wanted to go and hurt those idiot guys from the park. First, of course, for beating up Marco because they were so single minded, and second for scaring him back to square one. They made him want to pretend again instead of being himself.

"And so what about Dylan?" I asked. That was the only thing that got him, but it pushed him over the edge a little.

"Ellie, just drop it, please! It's over."

I walked away since Marco didn't want to talk about it.

* * *

Marco approached me before I left school that day.

"Hey," he said slowly.

"Hi."

"Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier."

"I know. You were just freaked out."

"I'm sorry for pushing the subject," I added.

"I know."

"Marco," I said. "I'm sorry that you had to go through that. You are a great person, and you deserve so much better then what happened to you the other night, and I know it freaked you out. But you deserve to be happy, to be yourself, and I don't want people making you think otherwise just because they are idiots. I just want you to be happy."

"I know El, and I appreciate that, and I know now that it's true. It's just…, I don't even know, it was just a scary night and I don't really wanna think about that happening again, I guess. And for me hiding seemed to be the only solution. I don't know how to be brave like Dylan, and stand up to people like Jay. I just thought maybe not being anything would be easier then being gay, but I realize now that I can't let people like Jay, or the guys from the park, or even spinner stop me from being me just because they can't accept it."

I smiled at him.

"I'm glad you're not going to pretend anymore, I'm proud," I said giving him a playful pat on the shoulder. He laughed.

"Yeah well I couldn't even if I wanted to. The whole school is going to know by tomorrow"

I shot him a confused look.

"Spinner…" he paused. "Spinner, wrote that 'Marco's gay' on the bathroom wall." Damn that spinner.

"Ouch. Marco, you should say something to him, stick up for yourself."

"I did, we just got into a fight. I basically told him that he was the same as the bashers in the park. But now, uh, the whole school is going to know."

We fell into a comfortable silence. I decided to change the topic a little.

"So…, what about Dylan?" I asked. Marco gave me a 'don't go where I think your going with that' look.

"I know you like him, Marco, there's no denying it. You have your first crush." I enjoyed teasing him.

"Yeah, well I don't think he wants to talk to me anymore," he concluded sadly.

"Why?"

"Well, I sort of yelled at him today to leave me alone."

"Go talk to him, I'm sure he'd understand why you were upset."

Marco just shook his head, and kept walking.

* * *

Marco stared up the school like it was a big purple monster, he didn't move or speak, he just stood there staring. It was the next morning, and I was trying to convince Marco that today would be okay.

"You know, the school isn't going to eat you, you will be able to come out once you go in."

"Yeah, but in there, everyone knows my secret, and they are all going to be talking about it. I don't think I'm ready for the whole school to know, but they do. And I don't know how to handle it."

"You can think of it as a blessing in disguise," said a voice from behind us. We both turned to see a tall, blue eyed, curly blond headed god, also know as Dylan.

"Dylan," Marco said surprised.

"See," he continued. "Now you don't have to tell anyone, they all know. Either way, everyone was going to find out and talk about it, but now its just one less step for you. So it's sort of a blessing in a weird way."

Marco was still staring at him dumbfounded. Dylan took this as a bad sign, and tried to backtrack.

"Or not, I mean I guess that's just how I would look at it, but….."

"No, no." Marco interrupted quickly. "I just thought that since I yelled at you yesterday, you wouldn't want to speak to me again."

Dylan relaxed, and smiled when he realized that Marco wasn't mad.

"I know what you're going through, Marco. I know how easy it is to feel frustrated and sometimes you just snap, and yell at people. You can ask Paige, I'm sure she'd gladly agree."

Marco laughed.

"Yeah, well, I am sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you."

"It's ok."

They both stood staring at each other for a moment. The bell rang and people all around us started to file into school.

"Hey listen," Dylan called before we started to turn toward school. "If you ever want to talk about anything, I'm willing to listen."

Marco smiled.

"Yeah," he said while blushing a little. "That would be great."

"Ok, um, how about today, after school? Meet me at the dot?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Great, I'll see you then. Bye Ellie."

He flashed us his bright smile one more time before walking off. Marco was still looking a little confused, like he didn't believe that just happened. Then he just smiled one of the biggest smiles I had ever seen, and started to drag me into school. He seemed to have forgotten his worries from before, and I certainly wasn't going to remind him.

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Okay so I know this chapter kinda sucked, but it's because I didn't know where I wanted to go with this chapter, but it was important to the story. The chapters after this will be better (well as good as I can get them)**

**Please review if you read :)**


	3. Juggling Crushes and Friendships

**Title: A Real Life Fairytale**

**Pairing: Darco; mixed with strong Marco/Ellie Friendship **

**Summary: Ellie tells about the fairytale she witnesses between her best friend and his boyfriend. Darco. **

**Chapter Two: "Juggling Crushes and Friendships"**

**Ok I am so sorry this took so long to post, but I was really, busy then I was sick, so I had time to write while a was sick but I didn't feel like going to the computer, and ok how about enough with the excuses and on with the story.**

**Please read and review. **

* * *

"I'm not facing them alone, please," Marco begged me later that day at lunch. He was gazing at a table that had Jimmy, Paige, and Hazel occupying it, but we both knew it would fill up with other friends in a few minutes.

The day had gone by pretty smoothly, no one had actually said anything to Marco about his coming out, though we both knew people were talking about it. They had chosen the obvious way of falling deadly silent whenever Marco walked into the room.

But now Marco was freaking out again, when he had to actually face his friends.

"Fine," I said. "I'll come sit, but if Paige says one thing about vampires, I'm likely to hit her with my lunch tray."

Marco smiled, thanking me over and over. We went over and sat, Jimmy greeted us the first hello. There was a tension in the air, with no one knowing exactly what to say.

"You know Marco," Paige said, breaking the silence. "If your interested, I could set you up with my brother, he's not seeing anyone.

Marco started to choke on his water. Everyone turned to look at him. Paige had a know-it-all smirk on her face.

"You know I don't think Marco's quite ready for dating yet, Paige. He just came out," I said trying to jump to Marco's rescue.

"Well, at first I was just trying to lighten the mood, but he doesn't seem to be objecting."

Marco, who had been turning redder by the second, slumped down in his chair a little.

"At least that answers the 'who do you like' question. You two would make a cute couple," Paige concluded. Marco, if it was even possible, turned redder. Jimmy came to his rescue.

"Leave him alone Paige, he's going through enough today without us hounding him with questions."

"True, sorry Hun, I don't mean to pry."

Marco shot Jimmy a grateful look and went back to eating

* * *

"Tough lunch," I said as we walked back to class.

"Yeah, well, besides the fact that Paige, Jimmy, and Hazel now know that I have a pathetic crush on Dylan, it didn't go as bad as I thought. Spinner seems to be the only one with a problem.

I nodded in agreement. Things definitely didn't seem as bad as we thought.

* * *

Marco started to spend a lot of time with Dylan. They met up and talked at least once a week, not including in-between classes and during lunch. Marco started to go to hockey games to cheer Dylan on with Paige; he even spent more time at the Michalchuk house. Marco was falling for hard for Dylan, and fast.

I was happy for him, really I was, but somehow I felt like I was being forgotten. And with my own problems troubling me, I fell into a dark place.

I also became jealous of Dylan, and I despised him a little. I felt like he was taking away my best friend. And not only that, he got the relationship I had always wanted with Marco.

After I was outed by Paige for cutting, I avoided Marco for three days, by then everyone knew about me, so I was positive Marco knew, too. I knew he wanted to talk but just didn't know how to approach me. I wanted to talk to him, too, but I had no clue what to say. By the end of the third day, I knew I had to talk to Marco.

I waited until school was dismissed to go and find him. I knew he was doing research in the library during last period so I headed that way.

I spotted him sitting at a table, books spread all over. I worked up the courage to go approach him, but Dylan beat me to it. I was about to walk away, when I heard Dylan say my name. So instead I stopped and listened. Eavesdropping? Maybe, but I knew people were saying bad things about me, and inside I was daring Dylan to be one of them. And my only hope then would be for Marco to stand up for me. Instead, I heard a different conversation.

"No, I was going to go look for her now," Marco answered. Her? Me?

"Oh well then go," Dylan got from the chair, waiting for Marco to do the same. Marco didn't move; he just looked his books. Dylan sighed.

"Your still beating yourself up over this, aren't you," he asked Marco.

Marco didn't say anything.

"I thought we fixed this when we talked last night," Dylan said calmly.

Had they been talking about me?

"I just," Marco starting, but he stopped and sighed. "I can't help feeling like I should've have done something."

"Marco, I don't think there was anything for you to do then…"

But Marco cut him off.

"I should have noticed something was wrong. I'm her best friend, Dylan; I should have realized something wasn't right. That she was sad, or hurting. I should have been there for. I haven't been there, we aren't spending as much time together as we used. Maybe I've been ignoring her, maybe I've been to wrapped up in…" Marco paused; I know he had almost slipped out the word you.

"To wrapped up in other things to notice. I'm failing as a best friend, I feel like I failed her."

"Marco, you have to stop blaming yourself, it's not your fault. I thought we agreed that you were going to go talk to Ellie."

"She probably doesn't even want to speak to me; I'm not a good friend. I can't even notice when something is bothering her. She probably hates me."

"Marco, I'm sure she doesn't hate you, it's really not you…" Dylan stopped; he seemed to realize that this approach was not going to work.

"Look, I'm sure if you find Ellie, and apologize she's forgive you. You two have a strong friendship and I don't think this is going to break it. You have been going through a lot right now, I mean, you've been coming out to people, right?"

Marco just nodded.

"She knows you've been going through a lot, too. I'm sure she doesn't blame you. I don't think there was anything you could have done, but you can help her now. You can be there for her, and help her get through this. She needs her best friend now."

"Your right," Marco agreed.

"Just like I was last night, didn't you learn from Paige that Michalchuks are always right?" Dylan joked. Marco shook just his head. I could almost here him roll his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," Marco said getting up. "I'm going to find Ellie now."

"Oh wait," Dylan said, rooting through his backpack. He pulled out some sort of bag, but I couldn't see what was in it.

"Gummy worms." Marco stated. "Ellie's favorite."

"Yeah, I remembered you saying that, so I figured you could use them to break any tension."

Marco smiled.

"Thank you."

"No problem, now go find your best friend," he said getting up, and walking past Marco, giving him a squeeze on the shoulder as he went.

That's when I realized that Dylan wasn't trying to steal my best friend; he cared about Marco just as much as I did. Paige had been right, they were falling in love, whether they realized it or not.

* * *

I was brought back from my realization when I heard Marco push his chair back. He was getting ready to leave and he was going to look for me.

I waited a few minutes then walked out looking to see where he went. Finally, I spotted him so I ran to catch up.

"Marco, wait up." I called.

"Hey Ellie," he greeted me. "I was just looking for you."

I nodded knowingly and added, "I was hoping we could talk."

"Yeah of course, that's what I was hoping for, too."

We continued outside in silence to the nearest bench. Outside was pretty empty; most people had left to go home already. We sat in silence for a few more minutes; I fiddled with my backpack as I tried to think of what to say. When the silence became too much to bear, Marco started us off.

"How are you?" he asked. I could see his brown eyes filled with concern

"I'm doing…" I paused trying to find the words. "Better. I've been talking to Ms. Sauve, and she's going to help me," I reassured him.

He just nodded, looking far away for a minute.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly.

"For what?"

"For not being a good friend."

I looked at him wide eyed, even though I had known he had felt this way, it was still pretty shocking to hear him say it to my face.

"Marco you are a good friend," I started, but he shook his head.

"I should have known something was wrong. I should have been there to help you through. Instead I've been ignoring you, too wrapped up in Dylan to notice you were hurting. I should have done _something_," he finished helplessly.

"Marco, I would be lying to say that I wasn't hurt by the fact that you were ignoring me, but that wasn't the only reason. I was stressed and hurting. I didn't want anyone to know what I was doing because it made everything hurt less. And Dylan's you first crush, your allowed to get a little over your head."

He stared straight ahead. He seemed to have something he wanted to say.

"Marco?" I asked gently.

"Let me help you deal. I'll do whatever you need me too. I don't want to lose you, El, in any way, shape, or form. Whatever it is, our friendship, or other ways," he said the last part quietly.

"Please promise me you won't cut anymore." It was the first time either of us actually used the word in our entire conversation.

"Because you could have really hurt yourself and I cant stand the thought of losing you. I need you, you're my best friend. You know I love you, don't you, El?"

I was crying by that point. I was shocked to heart him say all those things. I had spent a long time telling myself that no one cared, I started to believe it. I forgot that people did care, that Marco cared.

"I know," I said.

"Promise me?" Marco pleaded softly.

"I promise," I said looking him straight in the eye.

He nodded softly. We fell silent again, but there was something I had to know.

"Do you think I'm a freak?" I asked slowly. He looked up in surprise.

"No Ellie, of course not, why would I think that?"

"I know that's what people are saying about me, because I… I cut."

"Ellie you are not a freak," he said forcibly. "I would never consider you a freak."

I sighed, feeling relieved.

"Good. I was hoping that I in a few weeks, when I'm ready, that you would come to this youth group meeting Ms. Sauve mentioned with me."

"Just tell me when," he said pulling me into a hug.

"Oh yeah," Marco said when we finally pulled apart. I looked at him curiously. He went into his schoolbag, pulling out the bag of gummy worms.

"Gummy worms?" I asked teasingly. "Were you going to try and bribe me?"

"Well… if worse came to worse," Marco played along. We both laughed.

"Actually those are from Dylan, he heard they were your favorite."

"Good guy that Dylan." And I meant it.

"Yeah," Marco agreed. "He is." He went into another world for a moment, I just smirked. Marco shook his head coming back to me and planet earth.

"You know he can even juggle."

"Dylan can juggle?" I laughed at the random information, knowing Marco was trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, he even tried to teach me, but I told him he was nuts."

"Didn't want to embarrass yourself?" I teased.

"Hey," Marco threw a gummy worm at me. We sat joking for the next hour, catching up on different events in our lives.

* * *

"Uh, that test was long," I complained to Marco as we walked out of Mr. Armstrong's class, a few weeks later.

"Yeah, but it wasn't that bad."

"Yeah I think I actually passed," Spinner said as he and Jimmy came up behind us.

"And that, my friend is a miracle," Jimmy joked. "Thanks for all the help, Marco."

"Yeah," Spinner added. "Thanks, I finally understand it."

"Hey, no problem."

"We'll catch you later?" Spinner asked.

"Yeah," Macro agreed. I watched in amazement. No remarks, no acting like Marco was a pain to have around, Spinner was being civil. Obviously I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Was Spinner just nice to you?" Dylan asked, coming to stand by me and Marco.

"Yeah, I think our friendship is saved," Marco said shrugging.

"How?" I asked.

"Well I basically told him that his hair was out of date, his clothes didn't match. And that he wasn't even cute."

Dylan and I looked at each other, and then back at Marco, who just laughed.

"He woke me up in the middle of the night because my hand accidentally fell on him, saying how he knew I had a crush on him. So I got mad and I told him off and went and slept in Jimmy's bathtub. But then today he came apologized, he's even offended because I don't find him cute."

Dylan laughed. "Spinner thought you had a crush on him?"

Marco nodded, laughing too. "I'm just glad that he's finally getting over it, you know. I feel like I have my friend back."

Dylan looked at him and smiled. "Well I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself, even if it means Spinner has to learn the truth" he said as he pulled Marco into a quick a hug. Marco's face was priceless. He was not suspecting that hug at all; I thought he was going to die right then.

"I'll see you later, ok?"

Marco just nodded, still speechless as he watched the curly headed boy leave.

"So Spinner really thought you had a crush on him, huh?" I asked when Marco seemed able to speak again.

"Yeah, he's crazy. God could you imagine me liking Spinner," he shook his head at the thought. "I mean I know spinner, I've seen him eat a whole can of spray cheese."

"Yeah, and especially when he is so not your type. You only go for golden haired gods," I joked.

Marco gave me a look, and I just laughed.

"You nearly died when he hugged you!" I said trying to make my point.

"I just wasn't expecting it," he said defensively.

"Yeah, right." Boys can be so oblivious some times.

* * *

Then suddenly I was the one with a boyfriend, Sean. We met in detention and clicked. The only problem, Sean wasn't too fond of Marco hanging around. I guess I was trying to using Marco as a security blanket in the beginning, and Marco, being the good friend he is, pushed me to go out with Sean and not worry about him. Of course I made Sean apologize for being so mean to Marco, because if it hadn't have been for Marco I wouldn't have given him a chance.

Two weeks into Sean's and mine relationship and I was already feeling guilty. We had spent the whole two weeks together and were sitting in the cafeteria when the wave of guilt hit me.

Sean was telling me about some movie he had watched on TV, but my mind was on Marco.

He was sitting there, studying all by himself. Well, I mean, of course the "group" was there, but Spinner and Paige were deep into a conversation, and Jimmy and Hazel, as new of a couple as Sean and me, were content looking into each other's eyes. So it was the couples, and Marco.

I felt almost like I had abandoned him.

"Ellie?" I was brought back by Sean, who had just noticed that my attention was elsewhere.

"Yeah?" I answered, but I still watched Marco, feeling worse with each second.

Sean turned to see what I was looking at. He seemed to understand, and maybe even felt a little sympathy.

"I just feel bad, we haven't been able to spend that much time together, and now he's alone, stuck in couple land, where everyone is called "honeybee" and fights over who is cuter."

Sean sighed, "So call him over."

"Really?" I asked completely surprised. I knew Sean wasn't fond of Marco, and certainly didn't accept him being gay. I had told Sean early on that if Jay made any comments about Marco, I was going to stick up for him in any way I could. Sean could do whatever he wanted.

Sean just nodded a yes, but I sighed. Marco would never go for that. He didn't want to impose on Sean and me.

"Thank you, really, I'm glad you would invite him, but Marco would never do that. He'll just tell me to stop worrying about him and go pay attention to my boyfriend. He doesn't want to annoy us," I said carefully, but Sean caught the implied "you" in "us."

"So tell him I'm fine with it."

I sat contemplating whether to go over to Marco, when I saw that Prince Charming was going to say the day again.

He walked over to Marco and seemed to ask something along the lines of "are you sitting alone?" Marco, who had his back to me, answered him with gestures to Paige and his books.

I watched in awe as Dylan closed Marco's books, and told him to follow.

"You know I think Marco's covered," I said turning back to Sean. He looked at me questioningly then turned to see Marco following Dylan to another table. Sean just rolled his eyes.

"So what were you saying about that movie?" I asked turning my attention back to Sean. And I smiled because I knew that Dylan would take care of my best friend.

**

* * *

So that was the second chapter. The thing with being sick is that your work reflects how you feel so sorry about that. I'm also working to get to where I really wanna be, when they start dating, because I have a million ideas for that but none for pre-dating. But that's in the next chapter.**

**Oh the juggling thing, I didn't pull that out of thin air. Crazy right? But if you watch in "whisper to a scream" when they are in the lunch room after Marco leaves and while Paige and Ellie are talking, one of the times it flashes back to Ellie, if you watch in the background you can see Dylan juggling something and then trying to pass it to Marco, who looks at him like no way. My sister and I like to notice weird things like that. Another one is in "Queen of hearts" when ellie and Alex are talking before they continue to play cards, you can see Marco and Dylan playing cards on one of the tables behind them, and Marco throws something at Dylan while they are playing, that one made me laugh. **

**So the next chapter definitely won't take as long to post as this one did, again I'm sorry this one took so long. But I hope you enjoyed it. **

**Please review if you read thanks **


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